The Novartis insert says it all..., page-139

While the health dangers of oral NSAID’s such as diclofenac, aspirin and ibuprofen, are now widely accepted, the pain-reliever acetaminophen had been thought to be an equally effective but safer alternative.

Acetaminophen is better known as paracetamol, with Panadol and Tylenol being the best-known brands. According to an article recently published in New Scientist, and reprinted in today’s Courier-Mail, paracetamol is not an effective and safe alternative treatment for conditions such as arthritis after all. Following are some excerpts from the article

(Paracetamol) really took off in the 1960s, in response to emerging concerns about the long-term side effects of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Today in the US, there are about 16,500 NSAID-related deaths a year in people with arthritis alone.

Paracetamol, on the other hand, we think of as relatively safe…

This assumption is now being challenged by research suggesting that, when taken for prolonged periods, it may damage the stomach as much as NSAIDs. That might be an acceptable risk in exchange for pain relief, but in many of those who take it, paracetamol barely works better than a placebo.

A review of research that looked at people taking paracetamol to relieve chronic joint pain found seven studies that compared the drug with a placebo. Five of these found it to be marginally more effective, but two found no difference.

"Why are we bothering to give a drug to people that's toxic, that has significant potential problems, when it doesn't work?" asks Andrew Moore, an anaesthetist and director of pain research at the University of Oxford. "It's unethical."

In March, the Osteoarthritis Research Society International changed its paracetamol guidelines to "uncertain" to reflect growing safety concerns.

The case for the use of topical NSAIDs as first-line therapy in joint pain has just received a further boost…

http://www.newscientist.com/article...ong-with-the-worlds-favourite-painkiller.html
Courier- Mail, Q Weekend, July 5-6, 2014
http://postbiota.org/pipermail/tt/2014-June/015540.html